Pilots, horn please

One is amused at the consternation being shown all around at the phony pilot licenses obtained by some pilots of the Indian skies. Somehow there seems to be a tacit assumption that while the entire country has a constitutional right to be corrupt, for some mysterious reason, pilots are not supposed to exercise their constitutional right! Well, welcome to reality – corruption like water, finds its level into every nook and cranny of the society. Politicos and army generals, like ubiquitous civil servants and the constabulary, are drawn from the same stock as pilots and the petty babus, whether in the government or outside it. If you look closely – who knows – you may even find flying clubs that log in the trainee- pilots’ lunch-time as flying time to save on their own fuel costs, even while expediting the CPL for the pilots, earning their ‘goodwill’ at the same time – a true Win-Win! Corruption is no respecter of regulators, rulers or the ruled. It corrodes one and all equally.

I have said it earlier, and I may as well say it again, corruption needs curtailing not because it inflicts an enormous cost upon the exchequer. That it does. But that is mere economics. It is not the economics that strangles a nation. After all, the economic cost of corruption can easily be made legal as service fees, and not many may complain having to pay Rs. 50 (service tax extra) to be able to meet a Section Officer. Corruption needs curtailing because corruption makes no distinction between right and wrong, between life and death, between one’s own country and that of the enemy’s. A corrupt general or a commanding officer of an army unit on take from suppliers seriously compromises the nation’s security, just as a corrupt clerk in a private telecom company issuing a sim-card to the 26/11 gang compromises the nation’s security, or as a corrupt banker violating the know-your-customer norm aids the terrorists, or as a corrupt contractor laying the roads to Siachen or Kargil may endanger the border security. There is no way we can be tolerant to corruption in this area but not so tolerant to corruption in that area. One is either tolerant to corruption or one is not.

That is what we could learn from the SEC in the US when it goes hell for leather after a Rajarathnam of Galleon or a Rajat Gupta on suspicion of insider trading – a matter that may be largely laughable by Indian standards of corporate governance. If the US makes any concessions to the past reputation of wrong doers, it would be one-step closer to tolerating a certain kind of corruption and that in a modern society must be a strict no no. That’s why a Bernard Madoff or a Martha Sewart went to jail, while similar characters in India may well remain thriving and respectable tycoons, sometimes making it to the highest policy making bodies of the country. That’s why SEC levies enormous fines, running into tens of millions of dollars for the slightest infraction of norms, while in India most SEBI penalties get set aside.

One often wonders, OK, we know all this, but what is the solution? For some reason, we always fail to see that the solution must come from within us. For some reason, our traffic is in chaos because all the others are bad drivers; them, not us. The country suffers from the malignant tumour of corruption because all others are corrupt; them, not us. The fact is that the fight against corruption must begin from ourselves, not them. It may not always be possible to avoid being a victim of corruption. But surely we can push against corruption as much as we can, rather than becoming a tame or a willing participant? Surely we can have the moral fibre not to weigh our lives in monetary terms? Surely we can take pride in our personal worth by not succumbing to corruption because ‘everyone is doing it’?

Interestingly, more corrupt countries like ours are also very high on power-distance index. Power distance index (PDI) is the index of the obsequiousness of a people. In a high PDI society, the perceived distance between a senior and subordinate is very high. That’s why in the a developed country with low PDI, the Janitor would hail the CEO in the lift as ‘Hey Bob’ or the security guard at the airport will frisk a Vice President as he would anyone else. And that’s why whether a Madoff or Martha, a Rajat or a Rajaratnam, none may escape the majesty of law, unlike our Ramalinga Raju, et al. And that’s why in India a white Ambassador with red light can pull right through the security gates of the parliament, because given the huge power-distance index, the security guard dare not stop that obvious symbol of power, lest the “VIP” in the car kick his ass red-hot.

High PDI is also the reason why we will stand mutely with bovine patience when a ‘leaderish’ looking fellow in whites with a safari clad security guard in tow, jumps a queue in the airport. So every time a politician bulldozes his way through the airport security we are as much at risk as we are from the pilots of fake licenses. In high PDI countries, rules are for the lesser mortals. One is worth nothing unless one can violate rules. And the bigger one’s imagined worth, the more audaciously one will violate them. And then from jumping queues for one’s turn at the airport, one graduates to jumping queues for house allotments at an Adarsh Soceity; or to allotments of shops, gas cylinder agencies, or virtually anything else. High PDI is also the reason why the subordinates almost never question the senior’s wrongful actions. That is why a Minister can have his babu do virtually anything for him without question and make thousands of crores either through a 2G scam or a CWG scam, or a fodder scam, with some crums thrown at the babu as well. High PDI is also the reason why a CM of a democratic country, who could not give his citizens decent sidewalks to walk on, will think nothing of blocking a whole road for as long as 15 to 20 minutes, when we with bovine patience for him to pass!

Interestingly, speaking of pilots and PDI, the very researches into PDI started when they found that in many countries, the planes were at higher risk of accident when piloted by the more experienced pilots than they were when piloted by less experienced pilots! Deeper research indicated that the underlying reason was the high PDDI in these countries. So when the senior pilot was on controls, the junior pilot dare not correct his mistakes! So the second pilot was effectively redundant. On the other hand, when the junior pilot was on the joystick, he could easily be commanded upon by the senior. So there were indeed effectively two pilots in charge of the aircract and the aircraft was understandably safer! The research did not include the safety issues related to fake pilot licenses though!

But if you wish to make a small beginning at reducing our PDI, here are two suggestions. One, next time a self-absorbed “VIP” jumps a queue ahead of you, stop him. Tell him, if he is a leader, he better show the way. Second, next time you are waiting for a VIP to pass the traffic where you are held up helplessly, blast your horn full blast, for whatever it is worth. As hundreds of waiting folks blast their horns in unison, hopefully the noise of protest will fall on the VIP ears. But at least let not that bloke get away with it with dignity. So HORN PLEASE!

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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V Raghunathan is a former professor of finance, IIM, Ahmedabad, and is an adjunct professor, SDA Bocconi, Milan. He is also a former banker (president, ING Vysya Bank) and currently a corporate CEO. He is also an author and a columnist, with over 10 books and 500 papers and articles to his credit. His latest book is Locks, Mahabharata and Mathematics (Harper Collins, 2013). His other books include Games Indians Play (Penguin), Ganesha on the Dashboard (Penguin), Don’t Sprint the Marathon (Harper Collins) and The Corruption Conundrum (Penguin). He figures in the definitive list of top 50 global Indian thinkers of Thinkers50. Collecting old and ancient padlocks is his hobby.

V Raghunathan is a former professor of finance, IIM, Ahmedabad, and is an adjunct professor, SDA Bocconi, Milan. He is also a former banker (president, ING . . .